Fraudsters pose as MPs to steal personal bank details

Police are investigating a series of emails claiming to be from various politicians, which offer to donate 17.5million dollars "to be invested into any charity organisation".

But before the cash is sent, recipients are first asked to provide detailed personal information so the transaction can go through smoothly.

The gangs then use this to steal thousands from their bank accounts.

Staff in Miss Hewitt's House of Commons office were first alerted to the problem last month, when constituents began asking questions about messages they had been sent in her name.

At the same time, fellow Labour MP Diane Abbott also began receiving similar queries.

Last night, Miss Hewitt, who quit the Cabinet after Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, said: "This is very nasty.

"It is a very sophisticated operation to try to rob people of their life savings and is a vivid reminder we all have to be vigilant about what is dropping into our computer inbox when we use the internet."

A spokesman for Miss Abbott said: "The police have traced the messages back to someone in Mexico and on to Hong Kong, but it has been virtually impossible to identify who is behind this."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the MPs' case highlighted the growing sophistication of this kind of fraud.

He added: "Victims' individual monetary losses can range from the low thousands into multi-millions."